Richards Gets Shelled As A’s Roll Past Angels 10-5

Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakland Athletics celebrates his two run homerun with Jed Lowrie #8 for a 7-4 lead over the Los Angeles Angels during the fifth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on September 23, 2013 in Anaheim, California. (credit: Harry How/Getty Images)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo are slumping. Garrett Richards had his roughest start of the year.

Near the end of their dismal season, the Los Angeles Angels just couldn’t keep up with their playoff-bound instate rivals.

Jed Lowrie hit a three-run homer, Brandon Moss added a two-run shot and the Oakland Athletics kept rolling toward the postseason with their fifth straight victory, 10-5 over the Angels on Monday night.

Howie Kendrick homered and hit a three-run double for the Angels (76-80), who have lost two straight after winning 21 of 28. They hadn’t lost consecutive games in two weeks, or lost by more than three runs since Sept. 3, but the Angels couldn’t match Oakland in the opener of their final home series of the season.

“Whether we get to .500 or not, we’re just trying to win ballgames,” said Kendrick, who hit his first homer since July 6. “They’re a good team, and they made the postseason. Tonight they came up with a couple of long balls and went up early. We came back and still had a lot of fight.”

With not much more than pride as motivation, the Angels are still trying — but they’ve lost 13 of their last 17 against Oakland at the Big A.

After going 1 for 10 in last weekend’s series against Seattle, Trout struck out three times against unimposing Oakland left-hander Tommy Milone before beating out an infield single in the eighth, leaving him 13 hits shy of 200 for the season.

“He’s just a little bit out of sync,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of his young superstar. “Maybe he’s just getting a little tired. It’s that part of the year where he’s been grinding and playing hard. At times, you’re not going to be playing locked-in, and tonight he had a couple of tough at-bats. But you’ve got to keep going.”

Trumbo, stuck in an 0-for-16 slump, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Richards (7-7) gave up eight hits and seven runs while failing to get out of the fifth inning in his worst start since joining the Angels’ rotation full-time in late July. The right-hander got rocked in his final home audition for a rotation spot in 2014, giving up the most runs he has allowed in 12 starts since taking Joe Blanton’s spot.

“I was just a little off tonight,” Richards said. “Those guys came out hacking, and they barreled up a lot of balls early and kind of caught me off guard. I didn’t give us a chance to win, but I’m not discouraged by it.”

Milone pitched into the sixth inning and Seth Smith had an early RBI double for the AL West champions, who have won 11 of 13.

Seven A’s drove in a run at the Big A as Oakland (94-63) moved to a season-high 31 games over .500 with the majors’ second-best record, just behind Boston (95-62). If the A’s can catch the Red Sox over the final five games, they will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

“That’s what’s great about this team,” Lowrie said. “We’re doing a good job of staying steady. It carried over to today, even after the celebration last night. … We’re just going to go out there and do what we’ve done all year. Wherever that puts us, that’s where we end up, and that’s where we should be.”

The A’s have scored 49 runs in their last five games, and the offensive barrage didn’t let up after the club clinched its second consecutive division title Sunday. Lowrie hit his 15th homer in the third inning in Anaheim, and Moss followed with his 28th in the fifth.

“They play the same regardless, every day,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “Whether it’s a tough loss, whether it’s a win, whatever. Any time you can get home-field advantage, it’s important, but we’re just focused on winning as many games as we can, and if that happens, then it’s a good thing.”

Milone (12-9) struck out eight while giving up five hits and two earned runs in his second start since Aug. 27. He pitched two innings of relief last Friday, but got this spot start in A.J. Griffin’s place.

Los Angeles loaded the bases in the third on Kole Calhoun’s walk, and Trout struck out before Kendrick pounded a line drive high off the wall in right, matching his season high with four RBIs.

Oakland kept piling on with Moss’ homer and Eric Sogard’s RBI single in the sixth. Former Angels infielder Alberto Callaspo had an RBI single for the A’s in the ninth.